Heaven's Handwriting
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: A brand new, stand-alone story collection. One year after the defeat of Erebus, everything changes. Minako finds herself free of the Seal without any sufficient explanation. While her friends try to solve the mystery of her sudden freedom, Minako prepares for Erebus's inevitable reformation. She needs to say the goodbyes and the words of love that she couldn't say before.
1. Author's Note

**Author's Note: **

I'm taking a brief hiatus from my other stories in order to see if I can refresh my mind and develop some new ideas. I'd also like to practice my P3P characterization a little bit, since it's still much rustier than my P4 characterization.

With that in mind, I'm going to write this new story for a little while. It will be very similar in format to my old story **Allelujah**. While most of my stories at least try to be one cohesive narrative, this story will be a collection of one-shots, drabbles, and short, chaptered stories that all follow the same basic timeline, but are not necessarily all connected directly to one another. I'd like to tell this story from multiple points of view, in multiple ways, and I think a collection of short stories will best achieve that goal.

I've had a lot of new ideas recently about Minako, Persona 3, and the characters and situations therin. Some of these pieces are clearly inspired by others that I have written and that you may have read. Some will take the story in a different direction. While working on **A Dream Deferred, **I found that I frequently asked myself "but, what if I did THIS instead of THAT?"

This story is about the THIS, instead of the THAT.

**Warning: This next part of the note will be familiar to those of you who have read my stories before: **

One thing that it's very important to note here; this story takes place in Minako Arisato's universe.

Arena and Arena 2 take place in Minato's universe, and those games show us what live was like for the P3 characters after Minato's story had ended. Atlus makes it very clear that Minako and Minato did not exist in the same universe, and so the events that take place in Arena did not necessarily happen in Minako's universe. I presume that her story and Minato's were actually quite different, after The Fall.

What happened to Minako? What happened to her friends, and what happened to her story? What did they go on to do? What were their lives like?

This story to, some extent, hopes to answer that question.

Anyway, I need a break from **Dreamgirl, **and this could be interesting and potentially a lot of fun.

Please be aware – this story is a mystery set in the midst of a great deal of persona mythos and magic. Some characters will seem too strong. Some will seem too weak. Some things will happen which seem to be miracles, or which seem so implausible as to be suspect.

Bear with me. Ask questions! Form theories. Let yourself be puzzled! It'll be more fun that way.

Thanks for reading this obnoxiously long note. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

Sincerely,  
**Ari Moriarty**


	2. Prologue: The Challenge

_Never lose the opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is [heaven's] handwriting. _

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

* * *

**Prologue: The Challenge**

The soul that had once belonged to Minako Arisato treaded water in the Sea of Souls, holding back the tides of doubt, despair, and desperation that threatened to flood and thus destroy the collective human consciousness.

There had never been any time for her, or any distinction between then and now. The faces and voices she heard in her mind were no longer people, but were instead scattered collections of powerful emotions, some working against her and some working with her in her fight to protect the ones she…loved?

Love was a feeling. Love was a strong and an all-encompassing feeling, somehow merciful and merciless at the same time. Love was grief, and love was also longing. Love was hope, and love was courage. Minako was familiar with love. She, as the Seal, as the protection, as the barrier was made of love.

Had there…ever been someone that Minako had loved?

Vaguely, disjointedly she knew that there had been love where there had been life, but it was so long ago and far away, disconnected from either time or space by the overwhelming flow of human emotion, lost to her just as her body, her consciousness, and her breath were lost to her. There was love, somewhere, and it was hers and had been hers, but it wasn't a thing that she could touch. It was, like everything else only a fighting feeling, only a sad sort of distant knowledge that once, once, once there had been…love.

_No, _came a feeling, forcing itself up from inside of the deepest part of the soul. _No, I am here. _

It was a defiant feeling, at odds with all of the love hope, and sadness. It was a feeling that came from a part of Minako that didn't belong to the rest of the human consciousness. The feeling came from the part of Minako that still, somehow, belonged to Minako herself; or at least, it would have done so if there had been a "herself" or a "Minako" or anything other than the shield, a purpose, a mission, and love.

_No, _she felt again. _No, I am me. _

The defiance felt powerful. It felt good, sane, and safe.

_I, _she felt again, _am here. I am me. I exist. _

The souls swirled around her, lost to anything that might once have been called "themselves." Amongst them, Minako pushed hard against the powerful upswells of unmitigated and untempered human feeling, and insisted fiercely and desperately that she continue to exist.

Inside her soul, something bubbled up to the surface, stretched, and emerged into the light just behind her mind's eye.

It was a beautiful blue butterfly. For a moment, it glimmered, then wavered, and vanished, and in its place she could feel rather than hear the words etching themselves against the backdrop of her mind.

_You who have fought so hard for humankind, know this; _

_Nothing is boundless, not even hope. _

_In time, all things are conditional. _

_You, who have proven the worth of a victory; what price your courage in the face of defeat? _

_Six months remain until the end of everything begins anew._

_Go forth in that time and make your amends._

_Know this; your story has ended. _

_You are no longer the challenger. _

_You are Fate's shadow; you have become the challenge. _

_It is a challenge that can only be met by the strength of their hearts. _

The words faded, leaving only an imprint of memory on the one solid and still self-centered place in Minako's soul.

Around her, the sea rushed. There was a trumpeting feeling, a wave of panic, the surge of anger, fear, desperation, and hatred.

_It's coming, _she thought, and this time it was a real, alarming and unfamiliarly conscious thought.

Something screamed. Something roared, Something clashed.

Horribly, Minako opened her eyes and, for the first time in a span of time that hadn't existed until this moment, she _saw_.


	3. Connected

**Connected**

**Summary: **Fuuka and Junpei prepare to say goodbye after graduation. When she says that they'll always be connected, the sentiment isn't entirely metaphorical. One-shot.

* * *

**March 31, 2011**

"Um…I don't really see anything wrong," mumbled Fuuka as she lay on her back underneath Junpei's car. "We already checked the engine, so…"

Junpei sighed. " , don't worry about it. Come on out from under there, you're gonna hit your head or something. Thanks for trying, anyway."

"Oh, no! Please, just give me a moment!" Fuuka sounded frustrated. "I'm going to solve this! It must be something really simple, or maybe really small…"

She continued mumbling unintelligibly to herself, wriggling and scooting farther and farther beneath the carriage of the car.

Junpei was starting to get genuinely nervous that she'd hurt herself. It was also very dirty down there under the car, and he didn't love the idea that he'd forced a pretty girl like Fuuka to get all gross and covered in car crap.

"Look, how about we take a break?" he suggested. "You want a cup of coffee? Come on in, I'll make you one. We can try to solve the 'mystery of the car that won't fucking start' in a few minutes, okay?"

"Well.." Fuuka paused. "Some coffee does sound very nice. I…all right. Thank you. One moment…"

Inch by careful inch, she backed herself towards Junpei. She was covered in grime, and her jeans were completely ruined. Junpei grimaced as he reached down to help her to her feet.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Guess I should have asked a guy to do this."

"What?" Fuuka turned on him, looking surprised and honestly annoyed. "Why? I'll find out how to fix it, I promise! I just…it's complicated, and I can't figure out-!"

Junpei held up both hands in protest. "No, no, that's not what I meant! It's not that you're not, uh, doing a good job or anything. I just…you know, you're all…"

Fuuka waited expectantly for him to finish his sentence. Junpei looked at the grease stains on her new blouse.

"You're too pretty," he decided eventually. "You know…too pretty to be all, uh… He gestured at the blouse.

Fuuka looked down and blinked at the messy state she was in. "Oh!" She flushed slightly, and then started to laugh. "Oh…I didn't notice. Well, it doesn't matter. I'm doing laundry today anyway."

They went inside the house together, and Fuuka stepped into the bathroom to try and remove some of the grease on her hands. Junpei began making some coffee in the brand new coffee maker he'd been given by his mother as a graduation present.

"I guess it doesn't really matter about the car," he muttered, doing his best to convince himself that he meant it. "I mean…it's not like I really wanted to go on this date."

"A date?" Fuuka emerged from the bathroom. "I see. No, you shouldn't worry. I know that I can fix it. You'll still be able to go. Um…who are you going on a date with? Is it someone from school?"

"Yeah." Junpei shrugged. "She was in my biology class. Momoko Tachibana."

Fuuka made a startled little sound in her throat. "I…I see. She's very pretty, isn't she?"

Junpei frowned. "I guess? I used to thinks he was, anyway. I don't like her voice, though. It's weird, like, the way a girl's voice can totally make or break things."

Fuuka looked uncomfortable. "Junpei-kun, that's…very shallow of you."

"What? Nah, it's just honest." Junpei shook his head. "I mean…sure, it's nice when a girl's hot, but if I hate hearing her talk, what's the point? Not like you'd know anything about that, Fuuka. You've got a great voice. I bet you could be a great voice actress if you wanted. I could totally see that, too." He grinned at her. "You could definitely play some fantastic action heroine in an anime! Yeah, you'd be great for a gig like that."

"I…don't think I'd like that." Fuuka was nervously examining her hands. "I don't really like speaking in front of people."

"You wouldn't be in front of any real people," Junpei reminded her. "Its' just TV. By the time you're a big star, you'll already be out of the studio! People would just be watching the recordings on TV."

"That doesn't matter," murmured Fuuka. "It's..it's not for me."

Junpei nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right. I mean…why would I want to share you, anyway? You're my voice of an angel. Or, uh, ours, rather. You know, I mean…the guys in SEES. Everyone's pretty voice. I didn't' mean just mine, or anything."

"Yes…" Fuuka sighed. "I know."

For a moment, there was a vaguely awkward silence between then, and Junpei felt like there was something he should probably say.

"Uh, here's your coffee!" he managed, turning and grabbing the mug off of the counter. "You can sit down, if you want."

"Thank you." Fuuka took the mug, and had a seat at the kitchen table.

"You're leaving next week for school, right?" asked Junpei, really just by way of making conversation to fill the silence.

"Yes...that's right." Fuuka nodded.

"Cool," said Junpei. "No, that's seriously cool. I think uh...I think Mina-tan would have been super happy about that, too. You know, she was always talking about how jealous she was of your engineering skills. She'd be pretty stoked that you're gonna do something with building and constructing stuff at university. Yeah, I'm positive."

Fuuka gave Junpei a grateful little smile, and they shared the kind of brief but powerful moment of genuine understanding that can only exist between two individuals who have deeply loved the same person.

"I tell you what, though, it's…gonna be kinda weird when you're gone," Junpei went on envtually, drumming his fingers against the tabletop and watching the way Fuuka sipped gently at her coffee. It was hot, and she wrinkled her nose as the hot liquid scalded her tongue. Junpei grinned at her. "You know," he went on, "I mean, when you're off being all smarty-pants at the university."

"I'm going to university locally," Fuuka reminded him. "I won't be very far away. Besides, you can always reach me, if you'd like to. We'll probably always be connected through Juno. I can still feel you all, sometimes, when I start thinking about you. I don't have to search for you anymore. It's…sort of a habit."

Junpei's eyes widened. "You can feel us? All the time? Whoa, uh…wait, how do you mean, 'feel' us?' Like, you know what we're up to?"

Fuuka nodded. "Sometimes."

"And…like, if I'm in the bathroom," hazarded Junpei, "or, uh…you know, doing something else…I mean, there are some kinda things that guys do that we don't exactly always want you to be in on, you know what I'm saying?"

Fuuka blinked, stared, and then flushed bright red. "Oh, no! I…I can't tell about things like that unless I'm trying really hard. I only mean…I know if you're in your bedroom, but not exactly what you're…what you're doing in…oh…"

Junpei couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh at the horrified look on her face, or be embarrassed that he was talking about this kind of thing with a girl. He settled on doing a little bit of both, and ended up chuckling nervously under his breath.

"Uh, that's good," he said. "I think. Yeah, that's a relief."

Another uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Fuuka's cell phone beeped, and she took it out to look at it.

"Oh…I almost forgot!" She winced. "Today is Natskuki-chan's birthday! How could I forget? I have to call her."

"Her birthday? Oh, man, that's important!" Junpei nodded. "You better get out of here. Don't worry about the car, I'll call a mechanic. I need to-!"

Fuuka slammed her phone down on the table. "No! I told you that I'd fix it, and I can fix it!" Her eyes flashed, and Junpei was impressed.

"O-okay! Don't freak out, I won't call the mechanic. But…don't you want to hang out with your friend? It is her birthday after all, and it now's the time to see her. It might get harder to see her when you're off being all studious and shit at university."

Fuuka shook her head. "I can't see her. She's miles away, and I have no way of getting there. I'll just call, and then I'll go back to working on the car. It won't take long, I promise."

She stood up, went to the sink, and washed out her cup. While she fiddled with her cell phone, apparently looking for the number, Junpei stared into his own mug and spent a minute wrestling with himself.

"Hey," he said, just as Fuuka was starting to dial. "You know what? Don't call her."

"I...no, I'm sorry, I have to." Fuuka frowned. "I'll just call her and wish her a happy birthday, and then I can start work again. Is your date this evening? There's still time. If you don't mind too much, I-!"

"Nah, I mean, don't call her because you can go visit her instead," Junpei interrupted. "Let's get back to working on the car. If you can fix it, I'll drive you to your friend's place, and you can surprise her. That'd be pretty cool, right? When's the last time you saw her? Last summer? Yeah, she'll be totally shocked. It'll be awesome."

Fuuka stared at him. "But…Junpei-kun, what about your date? You probably won't be back in time to make it if we go all the way out there."

"Forget about the date," insisted Junpei. "I told you, I don't like her that much anyway. I'll call and tell her something came up. You just, uh, you know, do what you need to do, and if we get the car fixed up, we'll be all set. Oh, wait, should we get a cake?"

Fuuka opened her mouth to protest, but Junpei wasn't listening anymore.

He frowned thoughtfully to himself. " It'd have to be store-bought, but maybe we shouldn't show up without a cake. I'll walk over to the supermarket while you work on the car. Just don't, uh, hit your head and pass out, or anything. Got it?"

"I…are you sure?" asked Fuuka.

"Yeah." Junpei nodded. "Let's do this."

**Author's Note: **Is Junpei being kind of a dick to poor Momoko? Yes, he is, but…sometimes, Junpei's kind of a dick. None of us are perfect.


	4. The Luckiest

**The Luckiest**

**Summary: **Shinjiro's old habits die hard. In many ways, he's' still the man he used to be.

* * *

Shinjiro stood alone after dark in the back alley of Iwatodai station, bundled up unseasonably and shivering a little even under all of his layers.

The weather was sunny, beautiful, and warm; perfect for the beginning of spring. Shinjiro's chills were internal. His cheeks were flushed, and his shoulders and fingers ached the way they always did when he knew that he was getting sick again.

He was always getting sick again.

"Damnit," he muttered. "Fucking spring colds…"

A heavily made-up woman with long eyelashes came around the corner and spotted him. She was wearing a pair of horribly high lace-up boots and a skirt that wasn't much more than a piece of shimmery fabric almost covering up her crotch.

"Hey, handsome," she purred smokily at him. "What are you doing out here all by your lonesome? You looking for some company?"

Shinjiro shook his head. "I ain't interested," he muttered. "You're not my type."

The woman looked annoyed, then laughed a mirthless little laugh. "Why, you got a lot of options? Beggars can't be choosers, honey."

Still, Shinjiro didn't look at her. "That's not what I came here for. I ain't into that stuff," he insisted. "I'm waiting for someone."

"Is that so?" The woman rolled her eyes. "I guess you must be one of them. You're out of luck, though. The Dealer isn't coming tonight. He's only here on Wednesdays. You'll have to come back if you're looking to score."

"I am not," mumbled Shinjiro, "'looking to score.' Not with you, and not with any 'dealer.'" He reached his hand into his coat pocket, and pulled out a tube full of pills. "I gotta give this to somebody, that's all. Then I'm out of here."

The woman looked at the pills, then back at Shinjiro, and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I get it. You're a dealer too, aren't you? Well, forget about working here. This spot's taken. If Taro catches you trying to sell to his clients, he'll kill you." She looked him up and down, and added, "You look pretty tough, but I wonder."

Shinjiro grinned at her. "I could take him," he said.

Something about the look on Shinjiro's face must have made the woman uncomfortable, because she frowned and backed away from him a little. He knew that he didn't have much in the looks department, and his grin tended to have that effect on people.

"Hey," he began, but his sore throat got the better of him, and his voice was hoarse. He coughed to try and regain control of it, but the cough turned into a series of long, wracking coughs, and he could feel blood in his mouth when he'd finished.

"Damnit," he mumbled.

The woman was staring at him, wide-eyed. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. "Are you sick? Stay away from me; I don't want to catch it!"

Shinjiro's throat was now on fire. "Y-yeah," he managed, wishing he had a water bottle or something to soothe the pain. "Probably better if you don't get too close. I'm pretty sick."

"Is it contagious?" demanded the woman.

"Sorta?" Shinjiro shrugged. "I get sick a lot. My immune system's shit. It doesn't work at all. I get every damn virus there is. It's probably just a cold, but…" He shrugged. "Maybe not. Anyway, probably looks worse on me then it will on you."

The woman didn't seem at all reassured. "Immune system, huh? I didn't expect a guy like you to know a big word like that."

"A guy like me?" Shinjiro scowled at her. "You don't know me at all. You don't know anything about what I'm like."

"Maybe not," agreed the woman. "Maybe nobody ever knows anybody, really."

Shinjiro felt like another coughing fit was coming on, and he took a few deep breaths to try and stave it off.

"Why doesn't it work?" the woman asked. "Your, uh…your system. What's wrong with it?"

"I fucked it up,' Shinjiro informed her. "Used to take suppressants. Now my whole immune system's shot to shit. Totally shut down. It's supposed to have killed me by now. You can't live if you can't fight to survive, right?"

"But…uh, you're not dead.," noted the woman unnecessarily.

"Yeah." Again, Shinjiro grinned his slightly alarming grin. "Not yet, anyway."

The woman nodded. "I…I guess you're pretty lucky, then."

"Lucky?" Shinjiro shrugged. "Sure, I guess so. Not sure if you'd call living like this lucky, but it's something."

A figure stepped out of the shadows and came towards Shinjiro and the woman. The woman immediately pulled back and out of sight, muttering something under her breath. The figure approaching Shinjiro turned out to be that of a short young man with a scruffy five-o-clock shadow and dark circles under his eyes. He had on a shirt and tie, but they were both pretty dirty.

"Aragaki," he rasped. "You came."

"Yeah." Shinjiro nodded, and held out the pills. "Here."

The man gazed hungrily at the pills for a moment, then snatched them away from Shinjiro and shoved them into his jeans pocket.

"Don't sell 'em off to buy your damn booze this time," Shinjiro warned him. "Take 'em home to your kid, like we agreed. If I see you trying to sell 'em again, then I'm not giving you any more. You got that?"

"Whatever," muttered the man. "I…yeah. Th-thanks."

He gave Shinjiro a nervous, resentful sort of look, then turned on his heel and darted back in the direction from which he'd come.

For a moment, Shinjiro stood in silence and watched the man's retreating back.

"What was that?" asked the woman. "I thought you said-!"

"Painkiler," muttered Shinjiro. "The doctors gave 'em to me. His kid's hurting from a broken leg, and he's looking for work so he can't pay for a doctor. I got extras. Never take the stuff anyway. I hate drugs. "

"You…" The woman paused, chewed on her lip for a moment, and then shook her head. "I think I know what kind of a guy you are after all. You're a nice guy. They don't make a lot of those anymore."

"Don't be stupid," retorted Shinjiro. "I didn't' do nothing. I told you, I have extras. Not like I had to go out of my way or anything."

"The cops are gonna be pissed if they catch you handing out pills, though," warned the woman. "You gotta have a prescription for that stuff, right?"

"Right," agreed Shinjiro. "I got one."

The woman laughed. "You know what I mean."

Shinjiro smiled, and this time, she didn't shy away. "Guess so. Not like it matters."

"Yeah," agreed the woman. "Yeah, the cops around her are pretty stupid anyway. It's like they have no idea what goes on half the time, and half of them are into it anyway. You won't-!"

"Shut up," muttered Shinjiro, suddenly irritated. "Some of my best friends are cops."

The woman started to laugh, but then stopped, and looked puzzled. "Wait…that's a joke, right?"

Shinjiro didn't say anything.

"Huh," mused the woman shaking her head. "Well, aren't you just full of surprises?"

Pulling his coat a little more tightly over his shoulders, Shinjiro turned to leave.

"I could still keep you company," the woman told him as he headed out of the alley. "I might not even charge you that much. I like you. Yeah, sure. You can have a free trial."

"I told you," mumbled Shinjiro over his shoulder. "I'm not interested."


	5. Irreplaceable

**Irreplaceable**

**Summary: "**Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other gold."

* * *

"Well? What do you think?" Mitsuru frowned self consciously at herself in the department store dressing room mirror.

"Um…well, honestly?" Yukari bit her lip. "It's…it's kind of dull. I mean, it's a cute dress, but it's all black and grey. It's sort of…um, dreary?"

Mitsuru shook her head. "Blacks and greys are very professional colors. They're appropriate for most occasions, whether happy or somber. There's a reason that formal occasions are so often referred to as 'black tie events.'"

"Well, yeah, I know, but…" Yukari sighed. "I mean, come on, senpai. You're only nineteen, and you're gorgeous!"

"I…I don't know about that," mumbled Mitsuru, apparently embarrassed.

"No, you're beautiful," Yukari insisted. "Most girls would kill to look like you, and you should show that off! You're way too young to be all somber and professional all the time, and I don't care what the Kirijo Corporation has to say about it. You're in charge, right? So, you should be able to wear whatever you want. You've got it, so flaunt it!"

Mitsuru didn't seem to know what to say in response to that. She flushed. "If…if you think that's best. I really don't think it would be appropriate for the head of the corporation to be seen in an indecorous ensemble. Some of the things on these racks…" She gestured to one of the mannequins, who was wearing a very fancy, high-end, short and sheer miniskirt. Yukari laughed.

Yukari laughed. "Hey, you can be hot without being a skank, okay? Let's at least look for something with some color in it!"

She took Mitsuru by the hand and dragged her out of the dressing rooms and back onto the store's main floor. Mitsuru chuckled to herself.

"Huh?" asked Yukari. "What's funny?"

"Nothing," murmured Mitsuru. "I'm sorry. It's just…your energy is infectious. It's delightful. I'm having a very good time, today."

"Oh, yeah? Well, that's great! I mean, me too!" Yukari beamed. "I'm super excited about taking this graduation trip with you. I didn't even think I was going to get to go on a graduation trip, but this is way cooler than I ever imagined! A private jet, an exotic resort, and just us girls shopping, hanging out, and staying up all night chatting. It's going to be great! I'm really looking forward to it."

"As am I," agreed Mitsuru. "It's been a very long time since I've had anything that even remotely resembles a 'girl's night.' My post graduation year has been…exceedingly stressful, to say the least. I could use a vacation."

"Right?" Yukari nodded eagerly. "Let's make the most of this! I don't know what I'll be doing next year, but just in case it's something awful, let's have as much fun as we can right now!"

They walked past rows and rows of designer clothing, and came eventually to the center of the room where several rotating racks of jewelry were standing.

"Oh, hey, I almost forgot; I have to get some earrings to go with a dress I'm wearing to a wedding next week," said Yukari. "Can I look here for a minute?"

Mitsuru nodded. "Of course. Actually, I lost one of my favorite earrings in a hotel recently. I suppose I should get a new pair, but…these won't be easy to replace. It's the sentimental value, really, that attached me to them. They were a gift from a childhood friend whom I haven't seen in many years."

"Ohh, I see." Yukari nodded. "Well, um…I'm not your childhood friend, or anything, but why don't I pick out a pair for you? Then they'll at least be a gift, so it won't be like you replaced your favorite earrings with some random store bought ones that you paid for yourself."

Mitsuru smiled sadly. "It's a kind offer, but if I accept your gift, wouldn't that be almost like replacing an old friend with a new one?"

"Wh-what?" Yukari blinked. "No! No, that's not what I meant at all! I'm not trying to do anything like that, I just thought…"

Yukari trailed off, clearly flustered, and Mitsuru held up a conciliatory hand.

"If you choose a pair for me," she said, "then at least let me have the honor of choosing a pair for you. One gift deserves another in return. "

"Oh, yeah…that'd be really nice. Thanks." Yukari smiled, but something was suddenly aching dully in her chest. There was something eerily familiar about this situation, and when she reached up to finger the silver earrings she was wearing, she imagined the face of a laughing girl wearing a matching pair in gold.

"Yukari?" Mitsuru must have noticed the change in her face, because she sounded concerned. "Are you all right?"

"H-huh?" Yukari shook her head, and the nostalgia evaporated. "Oh, no, it's nothing. It's just, um…" She paused, frowned, and then said quietly, "It's kind of strange, that's all. You know, um…Minako picked these earrings out for me at Paulownia Mall our junior year. I got her the same pair in another color. It was totally a coincidence. She said we both had good taste. I was just, um…I was just thinking about it, that's all."

"I see." Mitsuru nodded slowly. "I'm sorry. I never intended to disturb old memories."

"No…no, it's all right. It's nice to think about her, sometimes. It hurts, but…" Yukari shrugged. "I'm glad she's still there. I'm glad I can still think about her. It's nice that you remember, too. It might be really lonely if you didn't. If I had to remember her all alone, then…I think that would be worse."

For a moment, the two women stood in silence, remembering. The mall bustled and buzzed around them, and Yukari smiled as she listened in the back of her mind to the voice of the old friend she'd always have at least a little piece of.

"I get why those earrings your friend bought you were your favorites," she said eventually. "I don't think we should replace them. Maybe…maybe I'll get you a bracelet instead. Do you wear bracelets, senpai? Or how about a necklace? You can't go wrong with a necklace. You can wear a necklace with pretty much anything, even if you aren't dressing up."

"Perhaps," murmured Mitsuru," we should decide about the jewelry after we consider the shoes. We did originally come here planning to look at shoes, didn't we?"

Yukari's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right! Wow, I totally forgot. We'll need new shoes for our trip! Do you think we should get sandals?"

"It's hard to dance in sandals," Mitsuru noted.

Yukari stared. "Wait, dancing? Who said anything about dancing? Are we going to a nightclub? Because…that would be amazing. Oh, um, but we're not bringing any guys. Wait, what am I saying? Who needs guys?"

Her discomfort and bittersweet memories temporarily forgotten, Yukari and Mitsuru forged ahead, making for the shoe department, chatting animatedly about plans for the immediate future.


	6. Come What May

**Come What May**

**Summary: **Koromaru reminds Akihiko and Shinjiro that you don't have to let go of the past to be happy.

* * *

The sun had gone down hours ago, and most of the city had gone to sleep, but Akihiko wasn't ready for bed. As far as he was concerned, the middle of the night was the best time to train, while the streets were all empty and the sidewalks were clear.

He jogged past the school, around the corner and down the street, with Koromaru panting eagerly at his heels. Together they turned the corner and made their way through the playground and past Naganaki shrine, until they found themselves in a familiar neighborhood lit with streetlights and covered in a comforting blanket of normal, rational nighttime that was so refreshingly different from the eerie gloom of the Dark Hour.

"Hey, let's take a break," suggested Akihiko. "Aren't you tired? Man, keeping up with you has gotta be good for me. We should do this more often. What do you say?"

"Arf!" agreed Koromaru eagerly.

Akihiko laughed. "Good. Glad you're up for it. You need some water, or something? Yeah, that's probably a good idea. We should both have a drink. Here."

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of water, and then a large dog food bowl. Placing the bowl on the ground, he poured half of the water into it, and then took a swig of the bottle himself. Koromaru settled himself back on his haunches, stretched, and then bent down to lap at the bowl of water. Akihiko sat down beside him on the pavement. They spent a quiet moment together, resting from their run.

A shadow detached itself from the side of the building that had once housed the Iwatodai dorm in which Akihiko and the rest of SEES had lived.

"Hey," muttered Shinjiro. "Back again, huh?"

Akihiko nodded at him. "Yeah. We're out for a run. What are you doing here?"

Shinjiro shrugged. "Same thing. Walking, not running. Not like I'd last very long trying to keep up with you."

He grinned, but Akihiko wasn't happy. He could see Shinjiro shivering even under his heavy peacoat.

"You shouldn't be out here," said Akihiko. "You're gonna make yourself sick again."

"Can't be helped," muttered Shinjiro. "Don't worry about it. I'll be a sick sack of shit no matter what I do."

He strode over to Koromaru, and reached down to scratch him behind the ears. Koromaru looked up, squinted happily at Shinjiro, and nuzzled briefly at his hand before returning to his water bowl.

"Haven't seen you in a while," said Shinjiro, nodding t Koromaru. "You look healthy, at least. I hope Aki's taking better care of you then he takes of himself. Not that it'd take much…"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? I'm in great shape. I take good care of us both." Akihiko handed Shinjiro the bottle of water. "Speak for yourself."

Shinjiro took a swig of the water before handing it back. "Thanks."

One lone car drove down the street and turned the corner into an alley. Akihiko Shinjiro and Koromaru all watched it as it disappeared.

"Nobody comes here anymore," remarked Shinjiro.

"Yeah," agreed Akihiko. "Why would they? The dorm's boarded up. School's out. There's nothing else around here to do. What's the point?"

Shinjiro nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Nothing here but memories anymore."

Akihiko sighed. "Come on, don't start with that shit. It won't do you any good, thinking about what happened. You have to let it go."

"Sure."Shinjiro snorted a derisive little laugh. "Easy for you to say."

"What?" demanded Akihiko. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Shinjiro sank on to the ground next to Koromaru, who flicked Shinjiro with his tail in a friendly sort of companionable way. "I mean you've got other shit to worry about," Shinjiro explained. "You're heading back to the academy in a couple of weeks. You've all kinds of crap to look forward to. What have I got? I have to settle for the memories."

"You don't," countered Akihiko, not for the first time, "have to settle for anything, Shinji. I've been telling you ever since I left; you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. Take the train to the academy with me next week. You can put up at my place until we find somewhere for you to stay, or something for you to do. What the hell am I gonna do if you get sick again? You won't take yourself to the hospital, and if I can't get back in time, then-!"

"I hate fucking hospitals," remarked Shinjiro. "Forget it."

Somewhere down the street, someone laughed, and was shushed loudly.

"Never said I minded being here," said Shinjiro quietly. "Not like I've got a problem with memories. It's not so bad."

Koromaru looked up from his now empty water bowl, blinked at Akihiko and Shinjiro, and then turned around and padded over to the steps of the dorm building.

"Where are you off to?" asked Shinjiro.

"It's all closed up now," added Akihiko. "There's nothing for you in there. Come on, let's go home."

Koromaru, however, didn't seem to be listening. He walked up to the very top step, then blinked, yawned, and settled down with his head between his paws.

"What, are you going to sleep?" Akihiko sighed. "Not here…look, it's late. We have to get home. Come on, boy, we can make it. Don't pass out on me yet."

"Arf," said Koromaru quietly. He gazed peacefully back and forth between Akihiko and Shinjiro, then closed his eyes and snuggled up, his tail beating against the frame of the door as it wagged contentedly back and forth. He was a picture of perfect, comfortable calm.

"He looks pretty happy," observed Akihiko. "I guess we can stick around a little longer."

Shinjiro nodded. "Yeah. I think he likes this place. We're not the only ones who remember."

Akihiko frowned. "Right. He's gotta be pretty attached to this area. His old master was the priest at the Naganaki shrine, and then we all took care of him here at the dorm. He and Minako were very close. I think that of all of us, she was the closest thing to a new owner that he ever got. He's lost a lot. We shouldn't forget that. No wonder it's hard to move on."

"Nah, that's not it." Shinjiro shook his head. "The little guy didn't just lose a lot. Think about it. He gained a lot, too. Two owners, a bunch of new friends…he's got a lot to be thankful for in this place."

Koromaru opened his eyes and cocked his head to one side, gazing quietly at Shinjiro for a moment.

"I figure if you've got some good stuff to remember, you can get through any of the bad shit that comes your way," Shinjiro remarked. "We made a lot of good memories here. They're the only good memories I've got, really. Why let them go? I like to think about them sometimes. Keeps me from getting too pissed off at the rest of my life. There was something good here, once. Maybe that can be enough. It's gotta be."

Koromaru stood up and came down from the steps. He nuzzled at Shinjiro's hand, and then returned to Akihiko and licked his face.

"Hey, knock that off," muttered Akihiko. "I'm all sweaty already. I won't taste very good."

"Woof," commented Koromaru, apparently unphased by sweat.

Shinjiro laughed.


	7. Inappropriate Conduct

**Inappropriate** **Conduct**

**Summary: **Ken demonstrates the power of nurture over nature. His makeshift family couldn't be prouder.

* * *

Ken Amada sat in the principal's office at his elementary school, listening to the sound of the principal tapping her foot impatiently and mumbling her way through a report from his teacher. When she finished reading, she set the report down on the desk in front of her, and sighed.

"How many times have you been in the office this week, Amada?" she asked.

Ken fidgeted with his tie. "Four."

"Yes, exactly," agreed the principal. "Four. I would argue that four reports from your teacher and four visits to the principal in the span of a single week is a cause for some concern…wouldn't you agree?"

Ken shrugged miserably. This was obviously a rhetorical question.

"You've left me with no choice," the principal went on. " I have contacted your family. Your mother will be here to pick you up in a matter of minutes, and I expect to have a long and enlightening conversation about your recent conduct when she does arrive. I can't imagine that she'll be very pleased with you. It's a shame, really. Academically, you're a very promising child, but…behavior counts. You'll never get ahead in life by being too stubborn to follow the rules, no matter how intelligent or skillful you turn out to be. You see…"

The principal droned on and on, but Ken had stopped listening.

_My mom? But…Mom died years ago. Who's she talking about? _He frowned. _Who'd they call to come get me? Everybody knows that I don't have any parents. So, there's nobody…_

The office door creaked open. The principal looked up and smiled.

"Ah," she said, "Mrs. Amada. Please come in."

A tall and very attractive blond women with piercing, bright blue eyes strode slowly and almost mechanically forward towards the desk. She was wearing a well-tailored grey suit and a pair of extravagant, purple high-heeled shoes.

"I am not Mrs. Amada," announced Aigis. "I am Aigis. Hello, Ken-kun."

Ken's eyes went wide. _Where'd she get those weird shoes? Oh, maybe they're Yukari-san's…_

"Uh…hello, Aigis," mumbled Ken.

The principal consulted her notes. "Oh, yes…yes I see. I'd forgotten about Amada's special circumstances. You are, however his legal guardian?"

Aigis nodded. "That is correct. Ken-kun is an important member of my family. I understand that I am responsible for collecting Ken-kun from school today. However, school does not typically end until two hours from now. I assume that something has occurred to alter the regular academic schedule. If there is some danger, perhaps I may be able to assist with eliminating the threat."

"Uh, no, Aigis, it's nothing like that," Ken told her. "Nobody's in danger. I just, uh..." He trailed off, struggling to admit that the principal had dragged Aigis in because he'd gotten in trouble too many times.

Aigis nodded. "Understood. I am relieved to hear it. In that case, how may I be of assistance?"

"Ahem…" The principal was staring at Aigis, clearly thrown off by her slightly stilted manner of speech, or maybe by the fixed, unblinking look in her robot eyes. "If you listened to the message that I left on your answering machine, then-!"

"My apologies, but I have not heard the message," Aigis explained. "Mitsuru-senpai contacted me upon receiving your telephone message. She has entrusted me with the task of resolving this issue."

"Y-yes, quite." The principal nodded, swallowed, paused in confusion for a moment, and then reached for the reports of Ken's inappropriate behavior. She thrust the four reports over the desk at Aigis. Aigis quietly accepted them, and began to read.

"You'll see from these reports," began the principal as Aigis read, "that Amada has been sent off of the playground to my office no less than four times this week for engaging in overly aggressive play with other students during his recess period."

Aigis frowned at the reports. "I do not see any indication on these documents of what you describe," she murmured. "Perhaps they are written in code?"

"What? No, certainly not." The principal was clearly beginning to get annoyed. "It's written very clearly right there at the top of the page. There's an entire paragraph's summary about the behavior which the teacher observed on the playground."

Aigis nodded. "Yes. I can see here that Ken-kun's teacher has written that she observed Ken-kun implanting his fist in another boy's face during the recess period. The episode appears to have taken place in the middle of the soccer field several minutes after the completion of a children's game. There is no indication here whatsoever that Ken-kun was engaging in 'play' at the time of the incident."

The principal cleared her throat." Yes, yes, very well. Whether or not he was actively playing at the time when the punch was thrown is irrelevant. The point is that Amada has been-!"

"Please allow me to disagree," interrupted Aigis. The principal's face went red with irritation and temper. "I wish to inquire of Ken-kun what incident motivated him to engage in this activity. Ken-kun?"

"I've already asked him," sighed the principal. "He doesn't have a sufficient explanation. No explanation, in fact, would be sufficient for inflicting violence or injury on a fellow student."

Aigis, completely ignoring the principal, turned and raised an eyebrow at Ken.

Ken took a deep breath.

"Those boys are always making fun of Mai-san," mumbled Ken, still not quite able to meet Aigis' eyes. "She's pretty small and she can't run very fast because she's sick and her legs don't work right, so they tease her and shout at her that she's ugly and a cripple. I told them to stop, but…that didn't help. Nobody listens to me when I tell them to do stuff."

The principal clicked her tongue and shook her head. "And so you took matters into your own hands. Do you really think that was the appropriate course of action?"

Ken bit his lip and glared at the principal. "Mai-san's really nice! They always yell at her until she starts to cry, and that isn't right, because she's a lot nicer than they are, she's not ugly anyway! If they won't stop because I ask them, then I have to make them stop! It's not fair any other way…"

"Violence," droned the principal, "is never the answer to any question."

Ken looked up appealingly at Aigis.

"I see," murmured Aigis. "Ken-kun, since you have begun asasaulting these boys, has their behavior desisted? Now that you have shown them that are you are willing to take violent action, have they ceased to harass your friend?"

Ken shook his head glumly. "No…they haven't. I guess maybe I'm just making it worse…"

Aigis nodded. "This is a difficult problem."

For a moment, she gazed thoughtfully down at the reports, while Ken and the principal watched her expectantly.

"It is true," she began slowly after several moments of consideration, "that any behavior which does not achieve your goals should and must be considered inherently inappropriate. An appropriate action causes an appropriate reaction. If we consider the situation in that way, then I must agree with your principal that your hand-to-hand combat with these boys is, by definition, inappropriate, and must be immediately discontinued."

Ken nodded glumly. The principal looked smugly pleased.

"If I may be permitted to make a suggestion," continued Aigis, "perhaps you might try a rocket launcher next time. Alternatively, a grenade always makes a significant impression."

Ken blinked.

The principal stared. "Wh-what?" she asked.

"And now, Ken-kun," said Aigis, carefully replacing the reports on the principal's desk, "shall we go home?"


	8. The Beginning: KO - Chapter One

**Beginning: K.O.**

**Summary: **Junpei still dreams of playing hero.

* * *

**April 6****th****, 2011**

**Chapter One**

Junpei was exhausted. He'd spent hours puttering around at his parents place, packing and sealing up all the random shit he had lying around into several large moving crates.

In a couple of weeks, he'd finally move out into his own apartment for the very first time. His Mom was pretty choked up about it. His Dad just kept shouting at him about making his mother cry.

Junpei was ecstatic. He couldn't wait. He'd been itching to get out of here ever since leaving the dorms and moving back home, and now it was really happening. He was going to be a free man with his own life and his own space. Life was going to be great, and the world was going to be his oyster to mess around in however he wanted.

Moving, though, was a lot of hard work, and Mom and Dad weren't interested in helping. He still had a lot left to do, but he was too tired to keep at it today.

He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, and as he slept, he dreamed.

Junpei had always had very vivid dreams. He was a guy with an active imagination. Sometimes, or maybe most of the time, he dreamed about girls. There wasn't anything wrong with that. He was a healthy, red-blooded Japanese male with plenty of fantasies he had to keep to himself during the day. Dreams were designed for that kind of thing. The dream world let his imagination run wild.

Sometimes, he dreamed of having adventures, saving the day, and generally being a badass. Tonight was one of those nights. When he opened his eyes in his dream world, he was standing in the midst of a sparkling sea of stars.

Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by masses of swirling blackness and tiny, exquisite pinpoints of light.

_Outer space, huh? _thought Junpei. _All right…time for a space invaders adventure! _

There was something heavy and massive in Junpei's hands, and when he looked down he found himself clutching one of the most amazing looking swords he'd ever seen. The hilt was gold and silver, encrusted with huge red and black gems, and the blade was wickedly curved and shining like the sun.

There was no doubt in Junpei's mind as to what this thing was. He'd imagined it a hundred thousand times before.

_The Legendary Sword…_He grinned to himself. _Aw, man, this is awesome! But, uh…what am I supposed to do with a sword in outer space? Don't I need a spaceship, or a blaster, or something? Swords are more for, like, fantasy and dungeon-crawling games. _

For a few long moments, everything was eerily quiet in the dream space. Junpei was uncomfortable and exhilarated at the same time, waiting for things to get interesting. This place was beginning to feel more and more like a video game. He wondered if he'd have to start walking around if he wanted to find any enemies. That seemed like it would make sense.

Suddenly, something behind him shifted audibly and made a deep, mumbling sound in its throat. Junpei whirled around just in time to see a huge black shadow lurching towards him, four glowing red eyes blazing out of the holes in its two grinning faces.

"What the-?" He managed to bring his sword up just in time to deflect a blow of the black thing's claws. "Is it time for the boss fight already? Man, don't I get any practice, first? Oh well…"

The thing took a step back to prepare for another blow, and Junpei had a chance to get a better, longer look at it. In an instant, he recognized it for what it was, and a cold, very real-world shiver went shooting down his spine.

"Aw man," he muttered, some of his courage deserting him. "What the hell are you doing in here? This isn't a dream after all. This is a fucking nightmare…"

Erebus, the manifestation of all terrible and evil things in the minds of humankind, rushed at Junpei a second time. He dodged out of the way, tripped, rolled, and managed to get back on to his feet just in time to intercept another of the shadow creature's vicious strikes. It smiled evilly at him out of four eyes on two dark stalks of necks.

Junpei wondered when he was going to wake up. This didn't feel very much like a fantasy anymore.

_If you die your dreams, _he wondered desperately, _do you wake up dead? No, wait, what am I saying? You can't wake up dead. I mean…if you're dead, you don't wake up at all. It's just a dream, anyway. If I die, I'll just...it'll just end, right? Back to the real world and real life. That's all. I got nothing to worry about._

As Erebus hesitated, and Junpei pondered, something else loomed up behind the horrible creature's two heads. It looked like a sort of glowing orb made of swirling air, decorated, like the rest of this place, with fantastically sparkling stars.

Inside the orb was the statue of a pretty girl in a high school uniform. She stood frozen in space, arms outstretched in apparent benediction, gazing sightlessly down at both Junpei and his opponent.

Junpei sucked in a sharp breath. "Mina…?"

Slowly, Erebus turned around. It too stared at the suspended, lifeless form of Minako Arisato.

For a moment, time stood still. Junpei could feel his heart pounding in his chest, as loudly and painfully as it would have in the real world.

Then, Erebus lunged.

The next few moments happened for Junpei in a sort of rapid blur. He felt his body tense as Erebus prepared to destroy the beautiful image of Junpei's treasured friend. In that moment he was struck with an overpowering anger that coursed through his veins and filled him with a new sense of unbelievably potent strength and power.

Raising the Legendary Sword over his head, Junpei let out a blood-curdling battle cry and threw himself full-force at Erebus' unprotected back. "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Erebus turned and glanced briefly over its shoulder.

Junpei swung as hard as he could.

The sword connected with the creature's back, slicing downward through the shadow's body until Erebus lay in two pieces, each with its own head, and each with its own pair of stunned, rapidly dimming red eyes.

Both pieces of the broken body swayed, shuddered, and exploded into a spectacular light show of red and black glittering essence. That essence dissolved into the sea of stars, until only Junpei and the statue of Minako in her floating orb remained.

Again, Junpei heaved the sword over his head. This time, he struck it against the bubble surrounding Minako's statue, and as the sword connected, the bubble shattered. Pieces of what looked like glass flew in all directions, dissolving into a sort of filmy fluid and evaporating entirely into the surrounding air.

The statue of Minako tumbled forward towards Junpei, and he reached out instinctively to grab for it. The stone felt unexpectedly alive in his arms, and as he held the statue against his chest it wrapped its arms around him and pressed a pair of warm, lifelike hands against his back, steadying itself against him.

"Junpei…?" gasped Minako. "I…I can't breathe…!"

But then, somehow, Junpei couldn't hear the rest of what she said. The sea of stars around him began swimming and blurring, until he blinked once, opened his eyes, and found himself lying on his back in his own little bedroom in his parents' house.

His entire body was drenched in sweat, and the blood was still pounding his veins. Exhausted and shocked by the power of his own imagination, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and muttered a blue streak of inaudible curses.

"Mina," he muttered. "Damnit…what the hell was that all about? It felt so freakin' real."

Rolling over on to his side, he tried to make himself more comfortable in the bed, with the image of Minako's face and the feeling of her hands still vividly etched on his memory. He could still see the horrible glowing eyes of the ultimate bad guy.

"There's no way I'm getting this out of my brain any time soon," he mumbled miserably. "It is gonna be a long-ass day…"

"Mmm," murmured Minako from where she lay on the bed beside him. She shook her head, looking bleary and confused."What? What's…where am I? Junpei? Is that you? How….how did we get here?"

Junpei's mouth fell open. He stared, and she gazed back at him.

"N-no way. So, then it wasn't a dream after all," he managed. He reached out and touched her hand, and just like it had been in the dream world, it was warm and alive."You…you're…I mean, hang on, are you...? Is this for real?"


	9. The Beginning: KO - Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

It was a very strange, otherworldly moment for Junpei. There was Minako, just the way she'd been in life, dressed up in her Gekkoukan uniform with her hair pulled back and her headphones hanging around her neck. It was like he'd conjured up his favorite picture of the way Minako had been in all of his fondest memories, and now she was sitting in front of him on the bed, healthy and whole, just like she'd never left.

Junpei knew that couldn't be. He could still picture like it was yesterday the peaceful look in her lifeless eyes when he'd chased the others up on to the rooftop of the school to keep their stupid promise. Shinjiro had been kneeling on the ground with a bemused look on his face, and Minako had been lying there in his arms, smiling in her sleep and fading quietly away while the rest of them stood around in confusion and waited for her to wake up again.

She'd never woken up again. The next day she was dead, or her soul had slipped away and become the Seal, or something. Honestly, Junpei hadn't ever completely understood most of it. He'd hit a pretty epic mental roadblock when the doctors had explained that she'd passed away painlessly in her sleep. That wasn't how it was supposed to be. After that, all the shit with Erebus, time, the end of the world…it had all been a frantic sort of adventurous blur, an excuse to keep his mind off of the fact that he'd never see her smile again, and she'd never help him with his homework. She'd never tease or taunt him, or call him Stupei, or do that annoying victory dance that she did every time she beat him at his favorite fighting game.

Saving the world and being the hero hadn't turned out the way he'd planned. They'd all been prepared to sacrifice their lives for the sake of humanity and yet none of them had seriously considered coming back alive but leaving someone they'd loved behind. Junpei had thrown himself full force into the defeat of Erebus, and then into his studies for the first time ever, and then into focusing on his part time jobs. He'd taken any chance he could to think about anything else that he could, because he had been so desperate to find a way to make himself believe that he wasn't still angry, hurting and lost.

In the end, it had worked, mostly. He'd moved on. He'd gotten on with life, and so had they all. He woke up in the morning glad to be alive, with things to look forward and his whole life out in front of him. That dull ache of loss and loneliness kept aching, but he'd pushed it to the very back of all the other more important stuff he had to do right here and right now.

Sometimes, though, he did still dream about her, just like he had last night.

_But, _he reminded himself, _it wasn't a dream, unless…unless I'm still dreaming? Maybe I just have to wake up, still. Maybe none of this is real. _

"Junpei?" Minako was frowning down at her own hands. "I don't understand. What's happening to me?"

She looked so uncharacteristically vulnerable and confused, so very unlike the confident, resourceful leader he always remembered that Junpei suddenly realized that none of this was a dream. He wouldn't be able to imagine her with that frightened look on her face. He never pictured her looking that lost.

"Holy crap," he whispered, and he could hear his voice shaking. "You're…you're really alive. This is…this is unbelievable." He found himself grinning a stupid, stunned kind of grin. His mouth had gone dry, and there was a kind of all-encompassing warmth sweeping through his whole body, starting in his cheeks and making its way down through his chest and across his shoulders. "I can't fucking believe it," he muttered. "It's amazing. It's a goddamn miracle."

Tears were pricking at the back of his eyelids, and now his hands were shaking too. Looking worried, Minako reached out and took both of his hands in her own.

"Junpei," she said, "you're crying."

"Of course I'm crying," mumbled Junpei, laughing nervously. "I'm…I've never been this happy in my whole life. This is insane. Maybe I'm going in sane. Who cares? This is awesome! This is the best, most weirdly awesome thing that has ever happened, ever."

Minako, however, didn't look so sure. She smiled at him, but it wasn't a very certain smile. "I…I don't understand," she murmured, maybe more to herself than to him. "I don't know what's going on. It doesn't make any sense. How can I be here? This isn't the way it's supposed to be."

Junpei shook his head. "No, no, you're wrong about that. This is EXACTLY the way it's supposed to be. This is the way shit was all supposed to turn out. Together at last, friends forever, the victorious rag-tag group of crusaders for justice! You were never supposed to…to die. I don't know, maybe this is some kind of divine intervention, or something. Some god up there is grinning at us and fixing all the stuff he fucked up the first time."

Minako shook her head. "Something doesn't feel right. What about the Seal? It needs me. It can't exist without me. What about the world we wanted to protect? Did I…fail?"

Minako looked so genuinely upset that it checked some of Junpei's enthusiasm.

"Hey," he said, trying to reassure her, "look, I killed that Erebus thing. Didn't you see that? I cut it into two pieces, just like that. It exploded. It's history. Bam, gone. Can't hurt you or anybody else anymore."

"Erebus can never be killed," Minako reminded Junpei." It isn't really alive. It's not a creature, it's just feelings. It's all of the terrible feelings in the whole human world. It isn't something that can ever go away. Eventually, it will be back, and then…what? What do I do then? I'm breaking my promise, but I don't know how. I didn't know this was going to happen. It was an accident. I didn't mean to…"

Junpei didn't have an answer to that. _Right, _he thought, deflating a bit. _Yeah…I knew that. Duh. Erebus can't be killed, or we would have done it already. But then…I mean, I did kill it, didn't I? Sure looked dead to me! _

He pushed away the nagging doubts at the back of his mind and put a comforting arm around Minako's shoulders.

"Don't sweat it," he told her. "We'll figure that out. Maybe something's changed. Maybe nobody needs the Seal anymore. How am I supposed to know? It's not like any of this stuff made any sense to begin with. Magic, personas, gods and other worlds...I'm sick of trying to figure it out. I'm no good at figuring stuff out to begin with, and it's not like any of this stuff is gonna suddenly start making sense."

"Junpei," began Minako warningly.

He shook his head at her. "You're back, you're alive, and I'm not gonna pretend to give two shits about anything else right now," he informed her. "If we gotta do something about this, then we will. If there's something else we gotta kill, or some hoop we gotta jump through, we'll do what we need to do."

Again, Minako tried to smile. "Good old Junpei," she murmured. "You haven't changed a bit."

He grinned back at her. "Right? You can count on me, just like always."

Somewhere, however, at the very back of that upswell of confidence, Junpei knew that Minako was right. Even in a crazy world without normal rules, none of this was making any kind of sense.

_Deus ex machina, _he told himself. _We're finally getting the True ending after all. That's what this is. _

Junpei was good at not letting himself thing too hard. It wasn't too much of a stretch just to sit back and believe.

**Fin. **


	10. Guys and Girls

**Guys and Girls**

**Summary: **She likes to tease him. He's an easy mark.

* * *

"You're gonna eat that, right?" asked Akihiko, pointing at the half of a hamburger which was still sitting off to one side of Mitsuru's plate.

Mitsuru shook her head. "I can't eat another bite. You're welcome to it."

"No, I don't want it." Akihiko frowned at her. "You shouldn't waste food. Don't tell me you're on another diet. How come girls are always acting like they're on some kind of hunger strike? Not eating doesn't make you look good. It just makes you look sick."

Mitsuru laughed, and shrugged her shoulders. "Your attitude towards women's beauty habits has always been a refreshing one, Akihiko, but I have put on a few pounds lately, and I'm afraid it hasn't done wonders for my figure. Yukari suggested that we try together a new celebrity diet which she's discovered on one of her favorite health blogs. I confess that I'm slightly dubious, but…"

"Huh? This was Yukari's idea?" Akihiko stared. "What does she have to lose weight for? She's always in great shape!"

"And I suppose I may take it, then, that I am not in 'great shape?'" Mitsuru smiled ruefully at Akihiko who blinked, opened his mouth, closed it again, and flushed.

"H-hey, that's not what I meant," he mumbled. "Come on, don't play mind games with me."

Mitsuru smiled. Akihiko glared.

"Yukari," Mitsuru went on, "has been offered a modeling contract by one of the most popular and successful Tokyo agencies. The contract, however, is contingent on her losing several pounds in order to meet more mainstream standards of Japanese beauty. Her height is, apparently, below average, and her bustline is-!"

Akihiko's face reddened even more. "H-hey, forget I asked," he mumbled. "This isn't something you should be talking about with a guy, anyway."

Mitsuru gave the remaining half of her hamburger a hungry and annoyed little look.

"Besides," muttered Akihiko under his breath, "there isn't anything wrong with Yukari's, uh…I mean, with her…figure."

Hiding her smile with one hand, Mitsuru pretended not to hear him.

Behind them, the door to the Wild Duck Burger restaurant swung audibly open.

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai!" called Yukari striding eagerly over to their table and dumping her gym bag on the floor next to Mitsuru's chair. "Akihiko-senpai! I didn't know you were still in town. Aren't you going back to the academy, soon? How come you haven't come to say hi? We've all missed you a lot!"

Mitsuru watched the confusion on Akihiko's face as he tried as hard as he could, in light of their previous conversation, not to be thinking about Yukari's debatably perfect bustline.

"Y-yeah, I'm still here," he managed. "Sorry, Yukari. I've been busy."

"Too busy to visit old friends?" Yukari put her hands on her hips and gave him a coy little smile. "That's not fair, senpai. My feelings are hurt."

Akihiko cleared his throat. "I'm not that far away if you take the train," he said. "There's no reason why you guys can't come visit me."

"You never invite us," countered Yukari. "Besides, I bet you live in some kind of horrible, smelly dump full of dirty dishes and dirty socks. All of my mom's boyfriends live like that. Men just can't take care of themselves."

"It's not like that," insisted Akihiko. "I'm not like that."

Mitsuru shook her head. "You're not far wrong, Yukari. Men do tend to live in filth. Akihiko is no exception. I believe the squalid, vile state of a young man's apartment is referred to as a 'man cave.'"

"Oh, yeah," agreed Yukari. "Junpei always talks about how he's going to have a 'man cave' next year when he finally gets to move out. If that's what a 'man cave' looks like, then I'm really glad to be a girl. Boys really are icky."

She made a disgusted face, and Mitsuru chuckled.

"I am not Junpei!" insisted Akihiko, slamming one hand down on the table for emphasis. "And I'm not 'icky,' either. Mitsuru is so neat it's actually a little bit scary. Nobody that I've ever met could live up to Mitsuru's cleanliness standards."

"Shinjiro does," remarked Mitsuru.

Akihiko frowned. "Shinji can't help it. Mold makes him sick. Dust makes him sick. He can't risk leaving anything lying around that he might trip on, or he'll hurt himself and end up bleeding out or something. It's different for him. He doesn't have the option."

"Eww," said Yukari. "But you have the option, so you're okay with it? You like letting the mold and dust and gross stuff get into your place? Isn't that pretty much the definition of 'icky?' Wow, senpai. I kinda didn't think you'd be like that. I mean, you're usually so disciplined and strict about everything. I guess nobody's perfect."

"What? No, that's not what I meant." Akihiko shook his head emphatically. "There's nothing wrong with my apartment. It's very clean…most of the time."

Yukari and Mitsuru exchanged a knowing look. Yukari didn't look at all convinced.

"Winter break," continued Akihiko. "It's still a few months off, but you'll all have to come and see for yourself. See? I'm inviting you to come and visit. Happy, now?"

Yukari smiled, but shook her head. "Aw, that's sweet, but I can't come this year. If I take this modeling job, then they'll have me doing my winter wear photo shoot during your spring break. Maybe I'll see you this summer, but I know that during the summer they want me to shoot swimsuit ads."

Akihiko's eyes widened. "Swimsuit photos?" Again, he reddened, and cleared his throat. "You, uh…you sure you want to do that?"

Yukari nodded. "Of course. This could be really good for me. Sure, maybe I have to lose a few pounds, first, but I'm already a little older than most models are supposed to be when they start out. If I don't' take my chance to make it big now, I may not get another one."

"Y-yeah." Akihiko was frowning at the tabletop. "I get that, but…still. Do you really need to 'make it big?' How come you want so many people to see you in a swimsuit?"

"Its' good money," insisted Yukari. "I'm not planning on getting married any time soon, and I don't have a rich boyfriend to help me out, so I need to find a good career that will keep me from starving."

Akihiko still looked annoyed.

"Why?"" Yukari looked puzzled. "Does that bother you, senpai?"

"It's, uh...well, no, it doesn't. Not really," mumbled Akihiko. "It's just…I don't like the idea of all those guys looking at photographs of you. You don't want to know what most guys use that kind of thing for." He looked deeply uncomfortable. "It's not something I want to think about other guys doing."

"'Other' guys, senpai?" Yukari raised an eyebrow. Mitsuru stifled a laugh behind her hand, and tried to turn into a cough.

Akihiko was now as bright red as Mitsuru had ever seen him. "You, uh…you know what I meant," he stammered, glaring, for some reason, at Mitsuru.

Mitsuru was just wondering if she should try to change the subject to save what was left of poor Akihiko's pride when Yukari's cell phone rang.

Yukari pulled it out of her purse and examined the caller ID. "Oh," she said." It's Junpei. Hang on, a sec, I'm gonna take this."

Holding the phone up to her ear, she asked, "Junpei? What's up? Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai are here with me. Hey, aren't you moving, soon? Akihiko-senpai's going back to school, soon, too. Why don't we all get some dinner together, tonight? Oh, or are you too busy with packing?"

Junpei said something loud, excited, and generally unintelligible on his end of the call. Yukari went white, and then looked angry.

"What?" she demanded. "What are you talking about? Junpei, that's not funny!"


	11. Somewhere Out There

**Somewhere Out There**

**Summary: **We don't get to go back. We don't get any do-overs or reboots in real life, but…what if we did?

* * *

Fuuka and Aigis sat on the steps of the Naganaki shrine, watching as Ken threw the ball for Koromaru. Every time Ken threw it, Koromaru raced after it, panting delightedly with his tongue lolling out. Then he ran back, dropped the ball at Ken's feet, and gazed up at him out of big, pleading eyes.

"Poor Koro-chan," remarked Fuuka. "In the city, we can' throw the ball very far."

"Koromaru-san is not unhappy in these surroundings," said Aigis. "He is pleased to be playing near the shrine where he once lived."

Fuuka sighed. "Oh, I know he is, but…don't you think he'd like to live somewhere a little more open? He's still a young dog, so he has lots of energy. There aren't so many places around here for him to run and play. Dogs like him belong in the country where there are lots of wide open spaces, and things to chase. We don't have anything like that, here."

For a few moments, the two women watched Koromaru and Ken playing together.

"Koromaru is happy where we are happy," said Aigis simply. "There is a saying that 'the company is more important than the setting.'"

Fuuka frowned. "You mean, 'it's not where you are, but who you're with?'"

"Exactly. That is what I said." Aigis nodded. "It is the same for Koromaru-san. At the same time, he is a city dog, and not a country dog. There are still some things to chase, here. Right now, he is chasing a ball. Also, there are sticks."

"That's…not exactly what I meant, Aigis." Fuuka smiled to herself. "But…I know what you mean. I think I'll always come back here, no matter where I end up after I finish school. I just want to be where everyone else is. Nothing else is so important."

"It is the same for all of us," agreed Aigis.

"But," mused Fuuka, "it wouldn't be that way if we'd never met."

Aigis looked puzzled.

"No, I mean…I'm glad that we met," Fuuka explained hastily. "Of course I am! But…if we'd never been together, and if we'd never become friends, then this place probably wouldn't mean much to us, would it?"

"The hypothetical is irrelevant," murmured Aigis, obviously a little disturbed the direction of this conversation. "What has happened cannot un-happen. We know each other. Therefore, we wish to be together. It cannot be undone."

"I'd never want to undo it." Fuuka nodded." I'd never want to give that up. But…Aigis, don't you ever wonder about what else is out there?"

Aigis looked at her hands. "I am equipped with an extensive geographic database," she murmured. "There is very little 'out there' with which I am not already reasonably familiar. Some places are cold. Other places are hot. Some are high, some are low. There are other countries where other languages are spoken. All of human civilization is, in the end, very much the same. It has been that way throughout history."

"Oh, Aigis…you know that's not what I meant." Fuuka sighed, but gave Aigis an indulgent little smile. "I'm sorry. Maybe I'm being strange. It's just that…now that we've all graduated, I've been thinking. The world seems so much bigger than it did before. I never thought that I'd have so many options. It makes me wonder."

Out of the corner of her eye, Fuuka saw Ken trip on something, fall, and end up lying on his face. In an instant, Koromaru had abandoned the ball he was chasing and was at Ken's side, nudging at his shoulder with his head and licking his face. Ken stood up, laughing, and Koromaru ran to retrieve the abandoned ball.

"If you could do anything you ever wanted, Aigis, what would it be?" Fuuka was still watching Ken and Koromaru. "If everything had turned out differently, and you hadn't been a part of SEES, then where would you want to be?"

For a long time, Aigis didn't say anything. When Fuuka did turn to look at her, she found Aigis staring blankly at the sun on the horizon, apparently at a loss.

"If I had never been a part of SEES," began Aigis slowly after an interminable pause, "I would be only a machine."

Fuuka shook her head. "No, don't say that."

"But, it is true." Aigis turned and gazed fixedly at Fuuka. "Machines are not provided with options or choices to make. We follow instructions and carry out the plans of others. If it had not been for my involvement in the affairs of SEES, the concept of choices would be foreign to me. Therefore, it is impossible for me to answer your question."

Fuuka gave up. Though significantly more human and empathetic than she'd been two years ago, Aigis was, at her core, a thinking brain. She wasn't terrifically imaginative.

_This is probably only going to make her upset, _Fuuka decided. _I'm talking nonsense again. I'm being silly. I'll drop it._

She was prepared to do just that, but Aigis apparently wasn't finished.

"Fuuka-san," continued Aigis, "you alone among us have a very special power. Your persona abilities allow you to maintain constant contact with the rest of us, even over great spatial expanses. You forget that this is not a gift with which we have all been blessed. I am unable to touch the minds of my friends, as you are."

"But, Aigis, you have a cell phone," insisted Fuuka. "And you have-?"

"That," interrupted Aigis, "is not the same thing. While cellular technology allows us to remain essentially within communication range at all times, the emotional connection between people is lost. While you are able to maintain a permanent emotional connection, I am not. I do not enjoy contemplating the possibility that for any reason I might be forced to part from the rest of you. For you and I, the experience would be very different."

Aigis sounded genuinely distressed, and Fuuka really was sorry.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Aigis. I'm so sorry. I was only thinking out loud. It's not important."

Aigis nodded. "Understood. I also apologize for being irrationally emotional."

They spent a quiet moment together listening to Koromaru's enthusiastic barks and Ken's laughter.

"Junpei-san is correct," murmured Aigis eventually. "You have changed, Fuuka-san. This is not a conversation that we would have had years ago when I first became a member of SEES."

Fuuka nodded. "Well, yes, that's true. I suppose everyone changes over time, and with age."

_But, she's right, _thought Fuuka. _Really, it never would have occurred to me to think about having choices and an exciting future if SEES hadn't given me all that confidence to stand on my own two feet in the first place. Aigis has a point. Would I really be so brave if I knew that when I left, I wouldn't' be able to take everyone with me? I wonder. No…no, it's probably not worth wondering about. After all, there's something sort of ungrateful about thinking this way, and it's not as though I'd ever actually want to leave. _

Aigis' cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket and held it to her ear.

"Hello, Junpei-san," she began. "Do you need something?"

Fuuka could hear Junpei's excited babbling on the other end of the call. She couldn't make out exactly what he was saying, but Aigis looked startled, then concerned, and then deeply confused.

"Junpei-san," she murmured, "Forgive me, but I do not understand. What are you saying?"

Again, Fuuka could hear Junpei eagerly explaining something inaudible. Aigis's mouth opened, then closed, and her eyes darkened slightly.

"Are you…feeling quite well?" she asked. "The phenomenon you describe is impossible by the very laws of the world in which we live. Is it possible that you have been engaging in the use of hallucinogenic substances?"

Fuuka blinked. "What...?Aigis, what are you talking about? What's going on?"

Aigis shook her head. "I am not certain. Fuuka-san, please call Ken-kun and Koromaru-san. I think it is best that we drive to Junpei-san's house immediately."


	12. A Pretty Good Year - Chapter One

**A Pretty Good Year**

**Summary: **It's something like a miracle, but it's not entirely perfect.

* * *

**Chapter One**

Minako wasn't certain what time it was when she woke up. She was still in her rumpled high school uniform, and her hair was now sticking out oddly from the ponytail she'd never bothered to take out. Someone had apparently thrown a blanket over her while she slept, and she thought she recognized the pattern. It was the same old, ratty blue blanket with the coffee stain on the underside that Junpei had used during his days in the dorm.

_Dorm? What dorm? _Minako frowned. Something that had been dancing around the very edges of her mind suddenly eluded her, and she couldn't remember what she'd meant by thinking of "the dorm."

_What's wrong with me? _She shook her head and tried to remember. She remembered the dream, or maybe the nightmare. The vision of Erebus and the destruction of the Seal that released her so abruptly back into the world were still very, very vivid in the back of her mind.

"Oh, hey…you're awake!" Junpei stuck his head around the bedroom door, looking infinitely relieved. "Damn, you had me worried! I mean, I figure you're probably just exhausted from all the stuff that went down, but you slept so late. I was starting to think that, uh…" His face paled a little, and he cleared his throat. "You know, that maybe it was like that other time when you just kept sleeping and we couldn't wake you up. Uh…" He rubbed nervously at the back of his neck. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be morbid or anything."

"That other time?" Minako stared at him. "What other time?"

Junpei shook his head hurriedly. "Yeah, right? I get you, let's not even talk about it. Good idea. Anyway, you hungry?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Mom's out, so we can raid the fridge. She'll just figure I ate too much again. Not sure how I'm gonna explain to her that you're here, but…we can deal with that later, I guess."

Minako got out of bed and let Junpei lead her across the hall and into the kitchen, where he immediately started opening cabinets and cupboards. Eventually, he managed to scrounge up two glasses of orange juice and some leftover bacon, which he heated up in the microwave.

"Sorry," he said, shrugging."It's nothing fancy. I bet you're not picky, though, 'cause you probably haven't eaten in a seriously long time. Uh, but maybe that means I should make your first meal something really tasty? Yeah. If you look at it that way, this is no good."

Minako found that she was, in fact, extremely hungry, and she bit into her bacon with relish. It was delicious, and as she ate, she slowly remembered what food tasted like, and that she'd had bacon before.

"No, don't worry," she assured Junpei. "This is fine. It's delicious. I really like this, don't I?"

"Huh?" Junpei frowned. "What are you asking me for? You either like it, or you don't. No reason to be shy about it, I won't get mad. Girls are much picker than guys about what they ate, and stuff."

While Minako decimated her makeshift breakfast, Junpei's cell phone beeped. He pulled it out and looked at it.

"Oh, cool," he said, grinning. "Everyone's on their way over." Then he gave Minako an uncertain little frown. "Actually…you want a shower? I have some sweatpants and t-shirts you can borrow afterwards. Not exactly ladylike, but they're clean. I just did laundry."

Minako found herself wondering if Junpei or his mother had actually done his laundry. She could imagine him being the kind of guy who would do his laundry without any detergent, and would say something idiotic like 'real men don't use smelly, girly soap.' The thought alarmed her and made her smile at the same time, and she felt suddenly amazingly fond of Junpei.

_But, _she wondered, _why would I think that about him? How do I know him so well? Is that really something he'd do?_

The strange gaps in her memory and knowledge base were starting to really frustrated Minako. She gave her orange juice an annoyed look.

"What's up?" asked Junpei. "You look weird. Not feeling good?" Again, he looked worried.

"Junpei," asked Minako, swallowing a gulp of orange juice and trying to sound as casual as she could about it. "Who is 'everyone?'"

Junpei deadpanned her. "What?"

"You know…you just said that 'everyone' was coming over," she explained. "Who did you invite? Are your parents coming home, or do you have friends coming to visit?"

Junpei was still staring. "N-no, I mean, the guys are coming. You know, everybody from SEES. I called them over as soon as I got up this morning. I mean, they're all going to want to see you, right? This is, uh, kind of a big deal."

Slowly, Minako shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I don't know what that means."

"You…aw, shit." Junpei's mouth fell open. "Wait, seriously? This can't be happening. Don't tell me you've got amnesia."

_Wish I could, _thought Minako. _I think it's a pretty safe bet, though, that something's wrong with my memories. I know there's so much that I can't remember, but every time I think about it, slips away again. SEES? It sounds familiar. I'm sure it means something important, but I don't know what. _

She shook her head, frustrated, and Junpei took a deep breath.

"It's okay," he insisted, maybe more to convince himself than to convince her. "No, it's cool, really. I mean, isn't the end of the world. Even if you can't remember, who cares? We have you back, and that's what's important." He still looked unhappy. "But…hang on, you remember me, right?"

Minako nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course I do. You're my best friend. I'd never forget something like that."

Junpei grinned, clearly a little relieved. "Y-yeah? Sheesh, you're gonna make me blush…"

"That's right, isn't it?" Minako wanted to hear him confirm it. "We are best friends?"

"Of course we are!" Junpei nodded enthusiastically. "Best bros forever. Um, except that you're a girl. Whatever, you know what I mean."

"Yeah….I know what you mean." Seeing that smile on his face made her feel good, and that, Minako knew, was a step in the right direction. "But…" She steeled herself to ask the question that she knew he wasn't going to like. "Why are we best friends? Do we know each other from somewhere? Where did I meet you?"

She'd been right. That blow struck home. Junpei's eyes widened, and this time, he really did look hurt.

"Man," he muttered. "You've really lost it."

Minako's heart sank. She mumbled a few choice words under her breath, angry with herself for not being able to remember. "You should probably tell 'everyone' not to come," she decided. "I don't know if they'll want to see me if I don't know why they are. It's awful when people forget about you. It feels so lonely."

Junpei brightened up a bit. "You remember that, huh? Well, that's something."

Minako had no idea what he was talking about.

Again, Junpei's cell phone beeped. He pulled it out to read the text message, nodded at it, and then quickly responded. When he'd finished typing his message, he hit send, and the picture he'd chosen as his phone's background image reappeared.

Something about the picture was definitely familiar to Minako. It was a slightly blurry photograph of Junpei, Minako, and another girl with short brown hair and a pink sweater. Junpei had one arm around each of them. Minako and Junpei were both wearing awkward, posed smiles, but the girl in the pink sweater looked like she knew exactly what to do in front of a camera. She was one of those naturally attractive people who could make a fake smile look like a lovely, genuine smile.

"That's…" she whispered, wrinkling her nose as she tried to force the memories out.

"Huh?" Junpei looked from Minako to the phone. "Oh, this picture? Yeah, we took this back at the dorm years ago. It was right after Yuka-tan's club won that archery tournament. It's not a bad picture. No one's making a stupid face."

_Yuka-tan? _Minako blinked. She could feel those familiar waves of love flowing through her, just as she had in the Sea of Souls, where there were only feelings and no facts or identities to remember. Whoever this girl was, Minako was deeply attached to her, and the longer she stared at the picture, the more certain she was that this was a very special person whom she'd come to cherish very much.

"I know her," Minako told Junpei. "She's a friend of ours, isn't she?"

Junpei nodded. "Uh huh. I'll say she is. You guys were pretty tight in high school. You did all that girly stuff together. Stuff that I wasn't into, like sleepovers, and shopping, and…uh, a lot of shopping, actually."

Minako nodded. "She looks friendly, and she's so pretty. I like her smile. She must be fun to spend time with, with a smile like that. Junpei, what's her name?"

"Yukari," said Junpei.

"Yukari," Minako tried the name out on her tongue, still looking at the picture. "Yukari…"

Then, suddenly and without any sufficient warning, the memories came flooding back. Minako squeaked in surprise and her mind was suddenly filled with images of herself and Yukari at shopping malls, at coffee bars, and in the back of alley of what looked like a train station. She remembered the prim way that Yukari tightened her lips when she was angry or annoyed, and the way that Yukari rolled her eyes at almost everything Junpei said.

"Stupei," murmured Minako.

Junpei blinked. "Wait, of all the things you could remember, THAT'S what sticks? What the hell?"

Minako giggled. "Sorry! It's just…that's what we called you isn't it?"

"Yeah…but it was mostly Yuka-tan's fault," mumbled Junpei. "She made up that damn nickname…and then she got all the other girls calling me that!"

Hundreds of tiny snapshot recollections had taken the empty places in Minako's mind where Yukari, apparently, had used to be. She smiled to herself as the entire panorama of their friendship played itself out against the backdrop of her mind.

There were still so many spaces, however, where she knew that names and faces should have been. She could only barely remember those other people, the 'everyone,' that Junpei had spoken of before. They flitted in and out of her memories of Yukari; blurry, indiscernible and evasive.

"Junpei," she asked. "Do you have any more photographs?"

Junpei nodded. "Sure, I've got tons of them. Why, you want to see? That's a new one. You always used to make fun of me for taking a photo every time we went anywhere together."

Minako nodded eagerly. "Please! I want to see all of them! Show me every single photograph you have. I need to try to remember more."

"Y-yeah, sure, okay." Junpei shrugged. "Every single one, though? Might take a while. Hang on a sec, I gotta call Fuuka back. This is a project. They'll have to come over later."


	13. A Pretty Good Year - Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Minako followed Junpei back into the bedroom, where she sat on the bed while he rummaged through the bottom of one of his desk drawers. There were stacks and stacks of loose paper piled up on top of the desk itself, and one of the drawers was off its hinge, as though someone had tried to shove too much into it and had ultimately broken it.

_Good old Junpei, _she thought, grinning at the mess. _Still, I'm surprised his parents let him live like this in their home. He wasn't allowed to leave his papers and his trash all over the dorm._

Something like a memory flashed through her mind and then was gone as quickly as it came. She sighed.

_I lived in the dorm with Junpei and Yukari, and…with everyone. Everyone else was there, too. Who is 'everyone?'_

"Got it," exclaimed Junpei triumphantly, finally pulling a big red book out of the drawer. "Oh, and hey, check this out! I totally forgot I still had this."

He passed her a ring of red cloth, which had the letters "S.E.E.S." printed on it in very somber, professional looking black writing. Minako held it in her hands and stared at it, trying desperately to remember something that was dancing just at the very edges of her mind.

"It's an armband," Junpei explained. "Uh, for your right arm."

Dutifully, Minako slipped it on, and found that it fit. "It's the perfect size," she said, smiling. Something about wearing it felt very right and natural.

"Yeah, obviously." Junpei nodded. "I mean…it's yours. Or,it was yours, anyway."

Minako raised an eyebrow. "Mine?"

"Right." For some reason, Junpei looked a little uncomfortable. "They uh, told me I could keep it, after…you know, after everything went down. Maybe that's kinda creepy and morbid." He laughed nervously. "I mean, I had a bunch of photos, but that was about it. It's not like I had much else to remember you by."

That time, at least Minako knew what he was talking about. She'd abandoned her life in the human world to take on the burden of the Seal, and when that had happened, she'd disappeared. Judging from the look on Junpei's face, that had hurt him very much, and she could feel the corresponding ache in her own heart, reminding her how sorry she'd been to leave him, too. She'd been terribly sad about leaving him and everyone else.

_Everyone else, _she thought again, trying not to get frustrated.

"A-anyway," Junpei went on, clearing his throat, "you can hold on to that. I mean, it's not like I need it anymore now that you're back, right?" He grinned, and then pulled one large color photo graphout of the back of the book. "Hey, take a look at this. This is what I was looking for."

The picture was a photo of a group of people standing in a very familiar looking living room. Some of them still had traces of wasabi sauce around their mouths, and although several of them were attempting to smile, others were glaring at each other, or trying to shove their way farther into the photograph. Junpei was standing in the background between Minako herself and Yukari, who was in the midst of shouting at a blue-haired girl with large eyes and a terrified look on her face. The two smaller figures of a white dog and a young boy were kneeling in the foreground of the photo, neither of them looking too happy. A tall, beautiful red-headed girl stood in the back row, looking disdainfully across at a well-built silver-haired boy. At the very edge of the picture was a man with an eye-patch and a totally bemused look on his face.

Every single face in this photograph was almost painfully familiar to Minako. She felt instantly that she knew each of these people intimately, but she couldn't recall names or instances

"Who's this?" she asked, pointing to the blue haired girl. "Why is Yukari so angry at her?"

Junpei followed Minako's pointing finger. "Oh, that's Fuuka. Heh, yeah, Yuka-tan does look pretty pissed, huh? Those two usually got along really well, but Fuuka doesn't like photos so much, and she kept not looking at the camera. Yukari got all impatient, and wanted us to 'take the photo already!' Fuuka wasn't helping."

Minako nodded. "Fuuka," she mused. "Fuuka Yamagishi, right?"

Junpei looked really pleased. "Oh, hey, you remembered without me telling you this time! Nice! Yeah, Fuuka Yamagaishi. Hey, looks like you're getting better already. Maybe you were just tired, or something. I mean…you were, uh, dead for a while. That'd mess with anybody's head."

Just as they had before, Minako's memories came flooding back in a slightly disorienting wave. She remembered the noxious cooking club fiascos and the determined look on Fuuka's face as she'd concentrated hard on someone called 'Lucia,' and then on someone called 'Juno.' Fuuka had been an earnest, sincere and dedicated person, and the kind of person you wanted on your side in a fight. She'd been shy but loyal, and Minako remembered fun evenings spent together up in Fuuka's room, giggling about silly dorm gossip and enjoying each other's company.

"I remember," said Minako simply, smiling. "Fuuka, Yukari, and I…we're all in the same year, aren't we?"

"Yeah, you got it." Junpei looked relieved. "It's all coming back now, huh?"

He slid over next to Minako on the bed, and began pointing at the figures in the photo, one by one.

"These two down here are Ken and Koromaru," he began. "Ken's ten in this photo, so he was just in elementary school. Uh, and Koro's a dog, obviously."

Minako nodded.

"And back here," continued Junpei, "these are our senpai; Mitsuru and Akihiko. They're the seniors. They were in charge of SEES, and all."

Minako leaned in to get a closer look at those two.

"This old guy over here is Mitsuru's dad, Takeharu Kirijo." Junpei frowned. "He's, uh…well, he didn't make it. We didn't know him that well, but he seemed pretty cool. Mitsuru was pretty broken up about that." He shrugged and shook his head. "But, uh, let's not talk about that. Hey, is this working? Do you remember anything else?"

Minako was too caught up in the barraging influx of memories to answer. Every smile, frown and gesture of her old friends was making it way back into the abandoned crannies of her mind where it had once resided before she'd abandoned it within the Sea of Souls.

"Yes," she said simply. "I think I remember."

Still, something didn't feel quite right. Even if she could now assign names and personalities to all of these faces, she still couldn't figure out what they'd all been doing together in this dorm. She knew that it was important, and that they'd been a part of something a lot bigger and more profound than a shared living space and a high school education. It had something, she knew, to do with the SEES armband she was now wearing, but that was about as far as she could get.

"Junpei," she began, "why…?"

"Oh, hang on a second!" Junpei didn't appear to be listening. He had returned to the bottom drawer of his desk, and was looking for something else. "There's somebody not in this picture. She'd be super upset if we forgot about her. Um…jeez, where the hell is it? Oh, oh, got it! Here we go."

He pulled out a photograph of a single woman with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a pretty dress and standing alongside Mitsuru at what looked like some kind of festival.

"This isn't mine," he explained. "Mitsuru-senpai made me a copy when I told her I was making a photo book. This is Aigis. You remember Aigis, right?"

"Aigis?" Minako frowned at the picture. "Yes, I think so."

"She's a robot," prompted Junpei.

For some reason, that annoyed Minako. "Don't call her that," she heard herself saying. "She's not a robot, she's…she's one of us. She's part of SEES! She's more human than a lot of human beings that I've met."

Junpei beamed. "Yup, you sure know Aigis." He looked infinitely relieved.

Minako leafed through her mind and examined her newly-found recollections of the woman named Aigis.

"Hey, and here's one more thing." Junpei reached into the very back of the drawer, and pulled out what looked like a gun. "It's not a gun," he said hastily. "So don't freak out"

Minako, however, wasn't freaking out. She wasn't worried at all. The thing that Junpei was holding looked very familiar, and didn't give her any kind of alarm.

Without thinking about it, she reached out and took the thing from him, then held it in her hands and examined it for a long moment.

"That's-!" began Junpei, but Minako didn't give him a chance to finish. Without knowing exactly why she did it, she held the thing up to her temple, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger.

"Persona," she whispered, as the word materialized unexpectedly in her mind.

"Wait-!" shouted Junpei, startled.

Then, something remarkable happened.

There was a shocking little pinch in Minako's chest, and a strange, dizzying feeling in her head. She reached both hands out to steady herself as something erupted out of the inner recesses of what she suddenly realized was her soul. Shimmering majestically, it materialized in front of her, hovering just beyond the edge of the bed. It looked to Minako like a sort of mechanical creature in human form, almost like Aigis. It was mounted on and apparently unable to free itself from some sort of giant, pointed structure, apparently being crucified amongst a collection of coffins that jutted out from the area around its feet.

_I am thou, and thou art I, _it said without speaking, somehow imprinting the words against the back of her brain.

For a long, breathless moment, Minako and the creature stared into each other's eyes.

"Messiah," breathed Minako. The creature nodded once.

The inner sanctum of Minako's mind abruptly and horrifyingly exploded.

She shrieked in pain and alarm as she was inundated all at once with a lifetime's worth of memories. SEES, her friends, her struggles, her trials and her tribulations all painted themselves back into to the gaps in her recollections where they belonged. There were people she had loved, people she had lost, wonderful, happy times and terrible moments of sadness. Her life, it seemed, had been filled with a shocking series of incidents dotted only with the occasional peaceful instance of calm.

Most importantly, there had been love. There had, it seemed, been so much love that Minako felt tears flooding unbidden to her eyes as she remembered all at once the many, many people who had touched her heart and who had made it so hard and yet so necessary at the same time to relinquish a life she'd held so dear.

She collapsed on the bed, her whole body shaking, full of new feelings and a wealth of understanding that had come at her far too quickly and all at once. Her persona disappeared, returning to the depths of her soul, and Minako sucked in a long, slightly shaky breath.

"Holy crap!" shouted Junpei. "A-are you okay?" He was at her side in an instant, looking genuinely panicked. "Come on, talk to me, what's wrong with you? Does it hurt? Do we need to get a doctor or something?"

Slowly, Minako shook her head. She took a few deep breaths, sat up, and wiped her eyes.

"No, I'm all right," she told him. She could feel herself emboldened, glowing with a new certainty and confidence now that she knew who she was and where she'd come from.

"Mina-tan," muttered Junpei. "You look, uh…you look kinda different."

Minako nodded. "I know. I'm sorry, I made you worry, but it's okay, now. I remember. I remember everything."

**Fin. **


End file.
